Just yesterday, Tom Cruise himself confirmed that Top Gun 2 is finally, officially, honest-to-goodness-they’re-not-joking-this-time happening. Today, it looks like it’s even closer to reality than we thought, as Oblivion director Joseph Kosinski is reportedly the frontrunner to helm the long-promised sequel to Tony Scott’s 1986 classic — not entirely surprising, since he’s worked with Cruise before.

According to Variety, Kosinski is Paramount and Skydance’s top pick to direct Top Gun 2. Having previously directed Tom Cruise in Oblivion, Kosinski definitely had a leg-up on the competition, though Variety notes that he emerged as the favorite after selling the studios on his pitch for the sequel. Still, Cruise tends to work with the same handful of directors, and after another project with Kosinski ultimately fell apart (a racing drama titled Go Like Hell), it was only a matter of time before these two got together again.

Justin Marks (The Jungle Book) wrote the most recent draft of the screenplay for Top Gun 2, which centers on old school fighter pilots forced to adapt to the modern world of drone technology. It’s unclear whether Val Kilmer will also return, though the actor has said he was asked to reprise the role of Iceman for the sequel, which Cruise says could begin filming sometime in the next year.

Kosinski, who also directed Tron: Legacy for Disney, recently helmed Granite Mountain, an action movie about firefighters starring Miles Teller and Josh Brolin. That film hits theaters this fall.